Stronger
by Empress Empoleon
Summary: She would never stop loving Cedric. But that was what kept making her stronger.


Cho Chang remembered the day when she first came to Hogwarts.

It had been so exciting for her-she had heard so many stories about her parent's times there, and she couldn't wait to experience it for herself. And then she met this lovely girl-Marietta Edgecombe, if she recalled right-she could already tell that they were going to be _great _friends. They had bonded over the Chocolate Frogs from the candy cart (Cho finally getting the one she needed for her collection, Marietta only getting another Dumbledore) and spoke fondly of their respective homes.

Even though she was so excited, there was still a tinge of nervousness as she stepped out of line and to the stool, where the sorting hat was placed onto her small eleven year old head.

_Ah...a smart girl, eh? You have some brains. _

"RAVENCLAW!"

People swore that they saw Cho glow as she jumped off the stool and ran to her new House.

* * *

Cho was already in her fourth year when she met Harry Potter for the first time.

She was about to head into a Quidditch game, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, when she noticed him for the first time. True, for the past three years, rumors had been flying all over about the scarred boy, but she had never actually _seen _him.

_He's kind of cute, _Cho thought as she hopped onto her broomstick. _But never mind that, I have a match to win!_

She knew that he was a good seeker, but he didn't know that _she _was good as well.

* * *

As the game went on, passes flying all over the place, she followed him discreetly. Though some people criticized her strategy, she took it in her stride. Why should she try to find it when the other person was doing the same? She could just let them do the work, and then steal it right out of their grasp.

It was mean, she agreed, but, who said life was ever fair?

Harry spotted something. As he zoomed after it, Cho sped after him. He dove sharply; so did Cho.

Out of nowhere, three Dementors popped out. Cho gasped as she swerved to avoid them.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" All Cho saw was a bright flash and all she heard was a pounding of hooves. The dementors were knocked out of the air and fell all the way to the ground, making a very suspicious thud.

(Cho found out later that those weren't really dementors; they were just a couple of Slytherins causing trouble.)

In that instant, she had lost the snitch to Harry. But she didn't really care too much. After all, she had just seen the Boy Who Lived cast an extremely powerful Patronus Charm.

* * *

Later on, before Gryffindor's game against Slytherin, she wished Harry good luck. She honestly wanted him to win; he _was_ the better Seeker.

"Good luck," she said with her heart, and his face flushed red.

Cho smiled. _I wonder if he likes me?_

* * *

The summer before her fifth year, Cho attended the Quidditch World Cup.

Cho couldn't recall anything in particular from the game. (Well, save for the fact that a bunch of Death Eaters had attacked, but that was another story.)

She did, however, remember meeting Harry there. He was with that redhead best friend of his (Ron, wasn't it?) and she greeted him. He stuttered and blushed while saying "hullo" back.

She shook her head as he ran off. Who would guess that the Boy Who Lived was reduced to a pile of mush by little _Cho Chang?_

* * *

It was her fifth year now, and the Yule Ball was approaching.

The Tri-Wizard Tournament had been _very_ thrilling and _very_ taxing so far. Cho literally thought she was going to have a heart attack when Cedric and Harry went against the dragons.

And, _oh, Cedric. _He was just one of those people who seemed to be perfect from every angle. You couldn't find anything bad about him-he was good looking, nice, talented, smart, and a Hufflepuff to boot. (You can _never _go wrong with a Hufflepuff.) Everybody liked him.

Even though he was a year ahead of her, Cho couldn't help but fall head over heels for him. So as the ball approached, Cho hoped against hope that he would ask _her _to the dance.

It was quite far fetched, she agreed, but she couldn't help it. He was just so _perfect. _Not to mention, he _was _one of the champions.

_It would be absolutely lovely,_ Cho decided. _To be asked out by Cedric Diggory._

* * *

Cho was floating on top of the world on cloud nine. She couldn't believe what had just happened.

Amazing Cedric, sixth year, Hufflepuff seeker, champion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, had asked her to the dance. _Her. _Average Cho Chang, fifth year, Ravenclaw Seeker, to the Yule Ball.

Cho had dreamed up millions of different ways in which this would have happened over the past few weeks of her crush.

_He would timidly stutter it out, blushing... "W-will you g-go t-to the d-dance with me?"_

_He would passionately bend down and his lips would crash against hers as he pushed her into a wall..._

_He would send a heartfelt note through owl post with a beautiful poem full of love in it..._

But instead he had just pulled her over and asked her straight out, "Will you go with me to the Yule Ball, Cho?" And there was so much sincerity in his stormy eyes that Cho felt lost, muttering a yes without even thinking.

Cedric smiled, and _oh, she had just seen the light. _"Great. See you there." And with a swish of his robes, the tall boy strode the other way confidently, as if he had just finished something he had been trying to do for a long time.

* * *

As fate would have it, Cho ran into Harry Potter a couple days later in the owlery. She was there to deliver a letter to her mother, and he was just coming up, so they ran into each other on the steps.

They engaged in some small talk, Harry quite red. Cho supposed that she was red in the face too, but it must have been from the cold.

Then he popped the question on her. "I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me..."

Cho felt her heart drop inside. "Oh. Harry, I'm sorry, but someone's already asked me. And, well, I've said I'll go with him."

She saw Harry falter slightly. "Okay, great, good, fine, great, no problem."

"Harry! I really am...sorry." And she meant it. She knew that he was having a hard time at school, with the Potter Stink badges and whatnot.

She flattened against the stairs as he pushed past her and into the owlery. Sighing, she trotted down the steps as a light flurry blew around.

* * *

The Yule Ball was here. Cho's heart fluttered as she headed down the steps, her traditional pearly kimono hugging her curves.

Cedric was at the bottom. He smiled and told her how beautiful she looked, to which she blushed and mumbled a thanks. He lead her into the Great Hall, holding her tightly.

Cho was living her dream, and _oh how she loved it. _It was absolutely _perfect, _just like Cedric himself.

She proceeded to have a very fun evening-she and Cedric walked in hand and hand, beginning the first dance of the night. She loved the feeling of his large, warm hands on her waist, pulling her close and swaying along to the music.

He only had eyes for her. And she couldn't look anywhere else.

After that, the evening truly began, and Cedric remained completely gracious throughout it all. He brought her her drinks, he pulled chairs out for her, he held her hand-he never left her side.

Cho reveled in the attention and the affection. She continuously glanced up at him when she thought he wasn't looking, and she squeezed his hand when he held her's.

It was better than she ever could have imagined it. That's why on their walk after the ball, she literally never let go of him until he really said he had to go around midnight in the courtyard.

(And, _no, _the rumor about her and Cedric snogging outside at one in the morning was _not _true.)

* * *

Cho coughed as she shuddered inside the towel that had been draped around her. She was outside of the Black Lake, saved by none other than her new boyfriend, Cedric.

She dimly remembered the night before being called over by one of the professors and eating something...she supposed that she had been bewitched into a slumber, seeing the circumstances.

And Cedric had to save her. (Cho squealed-how romantic!)

Being used like this didn't really bother her much; in fact, she was elated. The "hostages" were apparently the thing that one of the champions would miss the most.

The simple fact that she meant that much to Cedric filled her thumping heart with joy. Looking at her shivering savior, she flashed a smile at him.

He smiled back.

* * *

No. _No. _No. **No. **No. _**No!**_

Cho's heart pumped painfully loudly as she sprinted down from the audience to something limp that looked vaguely familiar.

It couldn't be what her conscience was saying it was, could it? _Cedric can't be dead!_

She fell to her knees beside what used to be her full-of-life boyfriend. Just a few hours ago, they had shared one more chaste kiss, her wishing him good luck, and him saying he would definitely win for Hogwarts and _for her._

Now he was just a corpse, a reminder of something that used to be, lying at her feet.

Cho screamed repeatedly. People watching the scene unfold said that they weren't normal screams-they said that they were scary shrieks full of pain and agony; that they were screams from the _dead. _

Cho sobbed into Cedric's chest, clutching his tattered shirt. She pounded her fists. She even slapped him. _He's not dead, he's just knocked out for a bit, I'll wake him up and he'll be fine._

Yet he never woke up, and Cho was eventually scooped up by some professor and taken away. The mess of the girl was heaving now, tears streaming down her porcelain face, her hair sticking to her forehead, and pieces of her heart and soul chipping off.

_Cedric!_

* * *

Cho stumbled into the Ravenclaw common room, blushing and happy for the first time in a long time.

She had just kissed Harry Potter.

This year so far had been pretty hard for her-after Cedric's funeral, she was barely able to hold herself together. One mention of his name, and she would break down.

Cho believed Harry and Dumbledore when they said Voldemort had killed him. It made sense, after all. She knew that Cedric wouldn't die so easily to anything in the maze.

When she came back to Hogwarts as a frail, heartbroken teenage girl, many of her friends and admirers had abandoned her, save for Marietta. It didn't really bother her as much as it might have before though.

Cedric had _died. Everything _just seemed so stupid and trivial to Cho now. Routine was what saved her from wallowing in her sadness.

Not to mention Umbridge making her life more of a living _hell _than it already was. That's why she signed up for Dumbledore's Army-to fight against Voldemort, to actually learn magic, to avenge Cedric's unfair death.

She had learned so much-how to disarm an opponent, how to cast a Patronus (her's being a graceful swan).

She became a little happier every day. Time really _did _heal all wounds.

As each day passed, her feelings for Harry grew as well. Yes, he had always been there, but now she saw him in an entirely different light.

He had tried to _protect _Cedric. He was fighting so hard to help her, to help everybody. And he wasn't that shabby looking either.

It was almost Christmas, and she had hung around after everybody left the Room of Requirement to look at the pictures of Cedric on the board.

He looked so happy. His grin was so bright and he was so _alive_; Cho swallowed back tears.

Harry came up behind her and asked her softly why she hadn't left yet. One thing lead to the next, and soon their lips were gently pressing against each other under the mistletoe.

It wasn't like her kisses with Cedric. There were no sparks, no flares. It was wonderful in a different way-a way that Cho would come to love just as much.

* * *

Cho stormed into the girl's dormitories and flopped onto her bed, crying into her pillow. _That git! That insensitive git!_

She had managed to straighten out all of her confused feelings for Harry and Cedric so they could go on their first date. Harry would never know how painful it was for her when she brought them to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

Cedric had brought her there once. The memories rushing at her were painful, dropping on her like anvils one after the other, yet she remained strong.

There were cute little cherubs and pink everywhere. Couples walked all around them, and she could sense Harry's uncomfortableness. Yet she dealt with it, and him not holding her hand.

Cedric had _always _held her hand.

She knew she should stop comparing the two, but she couldn't help it.

Then they began to argue-but in her defense, he acted completely stupid, even if he had never gone on a date before in his entire life. _Who says that they're going to meet up with another girl on a date?!_

All she was asking for was a little attention. She was lonely and heartbroken. Couldn't Harry pick up that she wanted him to piece her back together?

But _no, _he just went _on and on and on _about meeting Hermione later and how smart she was. And Cho was normally patient, but today the jealousy brewed. _Oh, did it brew._

And then Cedric Diggory was brought up. He wouldn't talk to _her _about it, but he would talk to Ron and _Hermione _about it.

She thought he would understand her.

_Well, I guess I was wrong._

* * *

Later on, Marietta betrayed the DA to Umbridge. Everybody was mad at her-but Cho wasn't.

She couldn't be. Marietta was her true friend. She remained by her side when all the others had left.

So, she would stay by her side too during this trying time. People bad mouthed both of them now, but it wouldn't bother her.

_Marietta must have been so strong to stick with me_, Cho realized. _I will too._

* * *

At the beginning of her seventh year, Cho saw Harry on the train. However, she did nothing and hid back in her compartment.

She didn't want to see him. It was too embarrassing. _Too humiliating. _

They had nothing left, after all. After their horrible date and Marietta's betrayal, they had gone separate ways.

They would never be the same. Too much had happened.

* * *

Michael Corner asked her out. She said yes.

There were never any feelings for him-it was just a shallow relationship, like Ron and Lavender's. She felt bad, using him as a kind of rebound to bounce back from all of her heartbreaks, but she needed someone else's shoulder to cry on other than Marietta's. (All of her shirts were soggy now, she complained.)

He was nice enough-but his kisses were bland. She knew deep inside that he was only dating her for her looks.

That's why when they broke up, Cho felt nothing at all. Absolutely nothing.

She was just a black hole; sucking up her emotions and leaving an empty hollow has been behind.

* * *

In the midst of the battle, Cho found Harry. He needed to find Ravenclaw's diadem.

Even though it might have broken her heart again to be with Harry, she volunteered to take him up to the Common Room.

She had to do _something. _She at least wanted to repair their friendship, if nothing else. She didn't want to live on disliking him.

Ginny cut her off though, and Luna brought him up. Cho looked at his retreating figure sadly before dodging another curse.

_We will _always_ be broken._

* * *

The battle was over. Cho had survived. _I'm alive._

She graduated Hogwarts. _I'm a witch._

She found love again, this time in a Muggle. He was sweet and witty, and everything she needed. He loved her even after she told him about her magical abilities, and so she decided that he was indeed the right one.

So she married him and got on with her life. They had kids now, one almost eleven. He would be going to Hogwarts soon, and Cho would miss him badly. (He would probably go into Gryffindor, she guessed.)

She had a family. And she was happy. _Really._

But every time she looked at them, she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if things had turned out different.

If Cedric had made it out alive.

If Harry had really loved her.

If Cedric had married her.

_Cedric should have been the father._

Though she was bound to another man, her heart still lingered with a fallen soul.

She would never stop loving Cedric. Even now, she still had nightmares, still broke down on quiet afternoons when reminiscing.

_She would never stop loving Cedric. But that was what kept making her stronger._

* * *

A/N: Hoped you all liked this long one shot from me. I truly like Cho Chang-I always thought that after Hermione, she was my favorite female character. She's so pretty and smart. And her story, though tragic, is quite beautiful-something that I found out when writing this.

_Done for:_

_As Strong As We Are United-Team Five_

_Wand Wood Competition-Walnut_

_Magical Objects Competition-Pensieve_

_Key Signature Competition-C minor_

_Not For The Faint of Heart Competition-Operation Grim Reaper_

Remember to review before leaving! The button thinks it's quite impolite to exit the story without clicking him.


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